BTOSports.com Observations from Millville

July 21, 2010

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Ahhhhh… Millville! The scenic Minnesota track is a good stop for round seven of the AMA motocross championships as it's one of the best tracks on the circuit, it's got great soil and even elevation. The fans in Minnesota are into it and passionate about the sport and all in all, if RedBud is the crown jewel of the series as I wrote two weeks ago, then Millville would be the jewels right next to the crown jewels.

I've been coming to this track for a long time, my first national was as a fan in 1988 and I think I've been to the national every year (save for one or two) since to either watch, race, work as a mechanic or cover it as a writer. So in short, I've seen the facility transform over the years, some good and some not-so-good in my opinion. The infamous sand whoop section has gotten easier since I first started going there and I'm not sure that's for the better, the new up and downhill added was awesome but I do like the old finish line switchback even though it was one-lined. It just adds to the flair of the track.

Last year when Ryan Dungey was battling neck and neck with Christophe Pourcel for the 250 title, the two riders showed up at Millville and the Minnesota native Dungey smoked both motos in going 1-1 on the day. He was unbeatable so with the way that he's been laying wood to the 450 class lately, did anyone really believe that The Dunge wasn't going to smoke everyone on his home track in front of his home fans? The only thing that was going to stop him was a hand cramp from signing so many autographs.

It was a bit surprising that the returning-to-the-nationals Kevin Windham managed to hold off the Suzuki kid for so long in the first moto but that's more of a credit to KW than to the discredit of Ryan. Once Windham ran out of steam, Dungey was by and it was all she wrote. Josh Grant and Andrew Short kept him honest but in the end, Dungey won again. Second moto, he was checked out early and put the hammer down to complete his sweep.

Have you seen Ryan Dungey's new autograph poster?

I really think that Ryan's biggest strength is his fitness. He's not blazing fast like a James Stewart or even RC, he just wears the rest of the guys down in the course of a moto. He doesn't have a trainer that follows him around mixing drinks like other guys but I'm sure his buddy RC gave him the map and said "Follow this son.." and Dungey went and did exactly that. His lap times are right there the whole moto and the rest of the class is dropping off the pace. This is his greatest strength and the reason why he's going to be clinching this outdoor title with a couple rounds to go. The last guy we saw that came out and won both indoors and outdoors title in out of nowhere fashion like RD is going to do was Jeff Stanton in 1989. Everyone knew Stanton was going to be good but once Rick Johnson went out with an injury, it was now the beginning of the not flashy but really fast Stanton era.

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That about sums up Ryan Dungey as well, not flashy but very, very fast.

Trey Canard made some changes in his program a little while back, he parted ways with Jeff Spencer and hired Tim Ferry to be his riding coach. Now obviously everyone reading this knows that I'm an unabashed supporter of all things Tim Ferry but I'm not going to go and seriously give Red Dog all the credit for Trey's recent turnaround. But you would have to at least admit that Ferry deserves a little bit of credit for Canard's recent turnaround. They talk during the week and when you've been racing for 182 years like Ferry, you've obviously picked up a thing or two along the way in regards to training, riding, line selection, resting during the day, etc, etc.

So whatever it is, Canard has been on a roll after some (by his standards) mediocre rides at Texas, Mt Morris and Budds Creek and has now won two races in a row by virtue of his 2-1 ride this weekend. In the first moto he chased down Pourcel and made the pass on the Frenchman. He then made a couple of silly moves that Master Ferry would not have approved by going down the first downhill on the outside and trying to rail the turn. Pourcel made an attempt on the lead by sticking in tighter and making time up the next hill. It didn't work but the next lap, it did. Canard admitted to me afterwards that he wasn't sure what he was thinking either by using that line two laps in a row but nevertheless, Pourcel regained the lead late in the moto and sped off for the win.

Second moto out the skies opened up early on but that didn't really affect Ice Trey. He led the entire moto in a pretty dominating performance and showed everyone what was up. With the win, Canard moved into third in the points and Dean Wilson? That sound you hear is the Canard train coming for second. If Pourcel keeps struggling along as it gets hotter and the season gets longer, this thing could get interesting.

Trey Canard has won two in a row and he's got to be loving talking to Tim Ferry everyday. I remember when I used to do that...

If you're Dean Wilson, you're probably thinking that you're sitting in a pretty good place right now regardless if Canard gets you in the points or not. The only thing that Mr Wilson is going to have to worry about in 2011 is some kid named Dennis that lives next door because let's remember Canard, Pourcel and Weimer are all moving out of the class next year. Dean-o and Justin Barcia (and I'm sure there will be some dudes that step up. Like Blake Bagget or Wil Hahn) are setting themselves up to be the guys to beat. Maybe Rattray outdoors but on pure speed (which always wins out in the end) Wilson and JB have these guys covered in my opinion.

I spoke to Mitch Payton in a wide-ranging interview that will be on my Pulpmx site and he really couldn't stop talking about Wilson and how much he loves the kid. He's a big fan. And as far as the MXDN controversy following Dean around, I spoke to him and he hadn't decided what country he was going to ride for yet but then later on I heard some not so good things about the Canadian effort and how strong it was going to be. So better get that kilt ready Dean!

As far as Pourcel is concerned, I hear conflicting things about his sub-par second moto performances. At this point, it's a definite pattern and not something that happens to be just random. Check this out, out of the 7 first motos this year, Pourcel has won six of them and averages 24 points per moto so he's pretty much perfect. Second motos he has averaged 18 points and has won only 2 out of the 7 motos so like I said, there's a pattern there.

Dean dances through the raindrops. Dean told me that red gloves are for second motos only. Who knew?

David Vuillemin said on the Pulpmx Show (HERE) that CP, because of his injury a few years ago, can't eat all day when it gets hot and therefore struggles in the second go around when his energy is low. His mechanic told me that he was banged up a bit and wasn't capable of pushing in the second moto. Another theory out there has to do with his lack of sweating from his injury and he simply overheats as the day goes on. Whatever it is, Pourcel needs to figure it out for 2011 when he's in the big boys class. As far as right now goes, he still has a comfortable 32 point lead on Wilson.

Privateer Kyle Regal had a great day with a third overall on the day. Yeah sure, it was with some unorthodox moto scores (8-2) but he earned that second when he crashed a couple of times and still got on the box. He's eighth in the points and that's with missing one round. He's in great shape and when he's on and near the front, he's awesome. Other times, you don't really notice him all that much. He needs to get consistently inside the top five every moto but he's still been doing pretty good for a guy in a van in the back of the pits.

And yes, this has all been documented.

With Davi Millsaps on the sidelines for probably the rest of the year, Honda needed to get someone to fill in on the bike and to my surprise they reached out to the veteran Kevin Windham to see if he would be into it and he was. I say to my surprise because I really didn't think that KW would ever come back to the outdoor series because:

A- He's Kevin Windham, he lives in a castle and has 8 bajillion dollars in the bank.

B- The outdoors are hard work and every year you miss them, it gets harder and harder to do the work to get ready for them.

C- Last year he came out halfway through the series and got worked. He got worked so bad that I swore it was actually a fan who won a contest to come ride KW's bike at a national.

But there he was, the ever-popular one at Millville and riding hard both motos. In fact, he led the first moto for over half the race! He had the fans freaking out and it was good to see him eventually end up with a fourth overall via 5-4 scores.

Doesn't this look a lot like Millsaps? I think Scott has the same kind of colorway that MSR does. Anyways, KW made a triumphant return to the nationals. Let's face it, with Kevin's popularity these days, he could've pooped the bed and everyone would've still loved him being there.

I was speaking with Carlos Rivera, Davi's regular mechanic (and the mechanic that has no doubt been thanked the most on the podium over the years. Millsaps gets much respect for this) and he said the settings that KW ran are remarkably similar to Davi. The bar mounts were 3mm higher, same motor set-up, same bars, grips, levers, etc, etc. I imagine the suspension was changed a little bit but really, it was about the best a mechanic could hope for in terms of a mid-season rider change.

Man with Washougal and Unadilla coming up, KW could really do some damage at the upcoming races. I'm calling it right now. KW will finish second in New York. You're welcome.

Andrew Short may get ragged on for his inability to win some motos but he's been better than 37 other riders lately. After starting in a huge hole at the beginning of the season, Shorty's now second in the points and looking pretty good. In speaking to him after the race, he said he's never been good with the heat and when Kyle Regal caught and passed him, he was just pacing himself out and didn't want to up his speed as that would lower his energy level.

Shorty is now second in the points and is the startmaster.

I spoke to Andrew about his ridiculous starting skills lately and he insists he hasn’t changed a thing. He practices starts on Thursdays after he grooms his starting pad, discs and waters the soil in front of it. And he does a precise number of starts but I can’t remember how many. Whatever he’s doing, keep it up.

A few notes from Millville:

-You know it's bad when the riders are asking me what I hear in regards to silly season. Yes, it's starting to be that time again.

-One thing I did not like about the media tent at Millville was the tiny ant colony that it was situated over. I had ants on my computer, in my bag and crawling on me whenever I sat down.

-Jason Lawrence has been in North Carolina, working hard and riding well. He tweaked his ankle/foot the other day but is trying to get everything straight there in North Carolina. And no, he still won't do an interview with me despite Coy Gibbs asking him. I bet if you replaced the name "Steve Matthes" with "Donn Maeda", he'd be all over it.

-I really enjoyed the JGR guys granting me permission to eat lunch with them on Saturday and the chicken pasta with sauce was fantastic as was the frozen Snicker bar.

-I walked by the impound area after the race to talk to my buddy Gothic Jay (Short's wrench) and once there I had a conversation with Mike Gosselaar, Dungey's mechanic. This led me to think that why doesn't the AMA just set up a recliner and a little cooler with Goose's favorite beer in it inside the impound area? After all, he's going to be there after every race whether it's Dungey, Carmichael, Reed, Lusk, Lamson or even Alessi. I remember the few times I got to go there it was a very special place.

Thanks for reading, email me at steve@pulpmx.com and we can continue this little chat we have going. See you next week from Washougal!